The collapse of the p-f mixing in CeSb with Ni incorporation

We have synthesized CeSbNi0.15 is single crystal and measured its magnetic and transport properties. X-ray powder diffraction studies reveal that CeSb Ni0.15 crystallizes in the cubic structure,like the host CeSb, with Ni atom s occupying interstitial sites. The magnetic susceptibility reveals an anti ferromagnetic ordering at T-N = 9.5 K. The magnetization isotherm at 1.5 K shows a metamagnetic transition at 6.4 T. The field dependence of the magne tization at 5 K exhibits almost the same behaviour up to a field of 5.5 T f or B parallel to [100], B parallel to [110] and B parallel to [111]. The re sistivity exhibits a sharp rise below TN which we attribute to the formatio n of a superzone gap. The obvious effect of Ni incorporation in CeSb is the absence of complex and strong anisotropic magnetic properties. This indica tes that the p-f mixing in CeSb is strongly reduced by the incorporation of Ni in the interstitial site. We have also determined the solubility limit of Ni in polycrystalline compounds CeSbNix to be x approximate to 0.4, and studied their magnetic and transport properties. These studies show that TN for CeSbNix alloys varies non-linearly with the Ni content, x.